Guest teaching can be a grueling, kick-you-in-the-stomach kind of experience. But CTU member Michelle Correa got her start teaching as a guest teacher and she wouldn’t have had it any other way. That’s how she fell in love with the “chaos of the classroom.”
The CTU launched the first charter strike in the nation in 2018 and a few months later, embarked on the first ever multi-charter strike. Now, CTU’s Charter division is embarking on another groundbreaking strategy, a coordinated campaign, negotiating contracts at 35 schools in 13 different charter networks simultaneously.
It’s been a busy week for CTU’s charter educators, who kicked off their unified contract campaign last week. We’ve got a report on that and other charter news.
The Union has won an appeal of an IDEAS ruling that found PSRPs whos chose to spread out their 10 month’s of wages over 12 months ineligible for unemployment. Also, please remember teacher assistants and SECAs are only allowed to be used as substitutes for up to 60 minutes and only in the case of a temporary emergency.
Almost 90 percent of unionized charter schools have negotiated safety agreements with CTU that include testing, screening and increased staffing. CTU-ACTS has established a health insurance committee seeking to provide an improved and less expensive benefits package. And, after threats to close, Youth Connections Leadership Academy will remain open for another year.
After two-days of direct action, Passages Charter School members won a reopening agreement that meets their demands on all outstanding issues. CTU-ACTS leaders met recently to strategize a coordinated bargaining campaign. Members at Namaste ratified their back-to-work agreement and Latino Youth members marked their 29th week of refusing the boss’ back to in-person work order.
The CTU New Organizing Committee met with charter school educators interested in unionizing. CTU members at Aspira are strategizing how to deal with colocation efforts. Acero Sped and ELL educators participated in a Know Your Rights training and are beginning to reach out to parents. Negotiations on our first contract with Epic are expected to begin after Thanksgiving
